Second driver guilty of lesser charge in '04 death
A jury finds a Pasco man, 25, guilty of reckless driving instead of vehicular homicide in a road worker's death.
By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published April 12, 2006
BROOKSVILLE - The most essential facts were pretty much known even before the case of Casey Christman went to trial. Christman and Aaron Hagen were driving on U.S. 19 on Dec. 13, 2004 - racing, authorities said - and Hagen lost control of his car, hit and killed a road worker named Brian Kearns and got five years in state prison because of it. The question a jury had to answer this week was whether Christman's actions caused Kearns' death, too, and made him also guilty of vehicular homicide.
The trial lasted parts of two days.
The jury took about 40 minutes to reach its decision.
The court clerk read the verdict Tuesday at 5:29 p.m.
The three-man, three-woman jury found Christman guilty of a lesser count of reckless driving - but not the much more serious charge of vehicular homicide. That would have gotten Christman at least nine years in state prison and as many as 15. Reckless driving is a misdemeanor that's punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Circuit Judge Jack Springstead set a sentencing hearing for May 4. Christman was handcuffed and taken to the Hernando County Jail until then.
"Legally, we thought he was guilty," Assistant State Attorney Lisa Herndon said outside the courtroom. "We thought we had enough evidence."
Christman's mother did not.
"He can't be responsible for what someone else did with their vehicle," Jan Christman said. "They make their own choices in life.
"I guess given what he could have gotten, I guess this is good. I guess I'm going to be happy with what it is."
Hagen's mother, meanwhile, sat on a bench in the lobby and had wet, weary eyes.
"My stomach is upside down," Susan Hagen-Rizzo said. "I'm extremely disappointed. I feel he should have gotten what Aaron got."
Hagen and Christman were co-defendants. But their cases had at least one fundamental difference from the get-go: Hagen's car hit Kearns. Christman's car did not.
On that sunny, dry December day a year and a half ago, Hagen, 26, of Spring Hill was in a yellow Dodge Neon, and Christman, 25, of the Pasco County part of Spring Hill was in a blue Honda Civic.
They didn't know each other but were close to side by side at a red light and put their windows down to talk a bit about their cars. The light turned green. About 2 miles later, Hagen was going an estimated 76 mph when he skidded across three lanes, spun and slid almost 300 feet and slammed into Kearns and the road-striping truck he was standing next to.
A salesman from Flammer Ford on U.S. 19 got to Kearns almost immediately and said in testimony that he was pale and ashen, and had shallow breathing and almost no pulse. He was moaning at first. Then he wasn't.
Hagen pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January.
But with Christman, a 1999 Hudson High School graduate who served in the Army in Afghanistan in parts of 2002 and 2003, works in a family floor business and had no prior criminal history, it took a trial to reach a resolution.
Last week, he turned down the same plea deal Hagen got from the State Attorney's Office - and gambled by going to trial.
Every state's witness - including Hagen - basically agreed in testimony over the last two days on a handful of key things: Both the blue car and the yellow car were driving too fast, riding other cars' back bumpers and weaving in and out of traffic that was heavy at times. The blue car was always in front. The yellow car was always trying to catch up.
Two witnesses said Hagen and Christman looked like they were in a scene from the movie The Fast and the Furious.
Some said they saw Christman smiling and laughing.
Others said they saw Christman come into Hagen's lane and Hagen then lose control. Hagen has said that all along. He said it again Tuesday in his testimony.
And everyone said they were acting together.
Everyone, that is, except Christman, and his older brother, who was in the car with him.
Their testimony provided the crux of the defense: Christman was speeding, and he was changing lanes, but he wasn't cutting people of, or tailgating, and that he wasn't even interacting with Hagen's car after the brief, initial conversation. Both said they didn't even see or hear the accident that happened behind them. They said they were smiling and laughing because of an Adam Sandler CD they were listening to.
Hagen said Tuesday that "it was just a matter of both of us reckless driving."
Herndon, the prosecutor, asked him if he took responsibility for his part in Kearns' death.
"Definitely," Hagen said.
"I always have."
Christman's St. Petersburg attorney seized on that admission throughout the trial.
"It's Aaron Hagen who started it," Patrick Calcutt told jurors in his opening statement. "It's Aaron Hagen who killed Brian Kearns, Aaron Hagen who was arrested, Aaron Hagen who pleaded guilty, and Aaron Hagen who confessed."
In his closing argument, he asked, "Are these two people really equally culpable?"
The jury left at 4:44 p.m. and came back into the courtroom around 5:25. Jan Christman closed her eyes and put her head down. She held still as the court clerk read the verdict.
Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.